Bank channel

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Security Bank in North Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday, bringing the total number of failures so far in 2012 to 23.

Clients interested in guaranteed lifetime income? Now you have one more option to offer, courtesy of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co.

Associated Banc-Corp has named industry veteran William K. Curtis president and CEO of its retail investment advisory and services arm.

"Big banker pay hasn't been tamed at all. It's as though UBS hasn't learned any lessons at all from the past crises," Brigitta Moser-Harder, a small investor, on the sidelines of a meeting attended by around 3,400 shareholders.

Investors delivered yet another blow to U.S. stock mutual funds, pulling an estimated $1.60 billion from the funds the week ended April 25. The outflow comes on top of the blockbuster $8.68 billion that was withdrawn from the funds a week earlier.

The bigger the bank, the bigger the increase in insurance brokerage income; the smallest banks saw declines.

Personal financial management tools were supposed to differentiate banks and improve customer retention, but many institutions are struggling to make the most of the enhanced online banking technology.

Industry veteran Steven M. Short will oversee the wealth management offices in the bank’s footprint, which includes about 15 markets across six states.

Bank shareholders have started saying "enough" to gigantic CEO pay packages, giving a stinging thumbs-down to certain banks. Paul Hodgson, a senior research associate at GMI Ratings, sums up this year's early proxy-season pay trends.

While we spend most of our efforts the rest of the year covering advisors in the bank channel, we set aside one issue to devote to the bosses: the program managers.

More than half of mass affluent Americans (57%) plan to push back their retirement, up from 42% in January 2011.

Advisors are ramping up their retirement income planning services as waves of Baby Boomers begin to retire, according to a new survey from LIMRA.

Revenue from the sale of investment and life insurance services at banks and credit unions increased 10% in 2011, led by a significant boost in advisory services.

As it expands its U.S. branches, Toronto-Dominion is hoping to sell more products to existing customers and to emulate its cross-selling success in its home country of Canada.

The retail financial services space can do itself a favor by making a few organic improvements, according to Danny Ludeman, chief executive officer at Wells Fargo Advisors.

As revenue growth diminishes, more community banks are looking to expand their wealth management and trust operations. A number of them, including Iberiabank and Wintrust, are turning to acquisitions for growth.

The Chicago-based company has bolstered its wealth management team in with the addition of veteran advisor Brian Heilman.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and BB&T will still be standing a decade from now, BB&T CEO Kelly King says. His list omits a number of other prominent players, including Citigroup.

Making good on its promise to bulk up in asset management, City National Bank in Los Angeles announced Wednesday that it is buying Rochdale Investment Management in New York and combining it with its asset management subsidiary.

Ignore the rhetoric from both sides on the issue. The odds that the business lending bill will be enacted this year are significantly slimmer than they were just last week.